1. Field of Invention
The present invention relates to the treatment of low back pain through a structured exercise protocol, and in particular to on-site early care methods employing stretching and graded weight lifting for minimizing the role of surgery in treatment of low-back pain and maximizing the benefits of natural recovery of the injured back.
2. Background Discussion
The management of degenerative diseases of the spine, particularly low-back pain, represents a major challenge in the development of efficient and cost-effective healthcare systems for the future. Low-back pain is the most common medical condition in the Western World and affects about eighty per cent of the population within their lifetime. At any given time, it is estimated that over thirty million Americans are affected. In particular, there is an increasing incidence of low-back pain affecting the working industrial population and it is a major cause of industrial disability. Second only to the common cold, low-back pain results in more time lost from work than other illnesses. An average of 1.4 lost days per worker per year has been estimated. Further, chronic back problems are the number one cause for disability below the age of 45 and the third major cause over the age of 45. Back problems commonly affect the work population and have made and continue to make a profound impact on our society including financial impacts amounting to billions of dollars annually. Thousands of workers are on the payroll, but not on the job as a result of low back injuries and disabilities. Extensive bed rest, medication and even surgery are typically offered as methods for recovery form such back pain.
In an article of SPINE, Vol. 12, No. 7, 1987, titled "A New Clinical Model for the Treatment of Low-Back Pain" by Gordon Waddell, the author concluded with a statement that modern medicine can successfully treat many serious spinal diseases and persisting nerve compression but has completely failed to cure the vast majority of patients with simple low-back pain. Further, the author further stated that bed rest is unanimously taught in all standard textbooks as the first line of treatment for acute attacks, yet it is difficult to discover when or why bed rest became the conservative accepted treatment.
Stretching exercises are well known to provide beneficial effects. Many books and articles have been written addressing the variety of stretching exercises and the need to stretch before the physical activities of racquetball, tennis, jogging, cycling and the many sports including walking that the world has come to enjoy. By way of example, "Stretching" by Bob Anderson, published by Shelter Publications, Inc. in 1980 promotes stretching as a part of daily life and recommends a series of stretching exercises for various parts of the body including the lower back. Each exercise has a recommended technique and position. Each will stretch the muscles to which the exercise is directed, but none provide the precise steps to follow when addressing the recovery of the pain of low back injury.
Further, various devices have been proposed to aid the strengthening and stretching process of the lower back. By way of example, a back stretching chair of U.S. Pat. No. 4,750,741 to Smolanovich provides a back rest rotatably coupled to a base for stretching the back during movement of the seat. U.S. Pat. No. 5,037,085 to Wexler discloses a device and method for lumbar-thoracic stretching which comprises a pair of parallel plates interconnected by a post assembly used by a person lying on his side with an uppermost knee wrapped around the post assembly and the thighs between the two plates. With thighs and legs fixed relative to each other, the upper torso is twisted thereby stretching the lumbar and thoracic spines. U.S. Pat. No. 5,067,709 to Christianson discloses a device for stretching and strengthening the muscles of the lower back and legs of a person in a supine position. The device includes a board with straps to restrain the pelvis of the person and a rope and pulley assembly for raising the legs. The back exercising device of U.S. Pat. No. 5,108,090 to Reed includes a leg immobilizing unit to which is attached a reciprocating unit for expanding and contracting the paraspinal and leg muscles of the user. U.S. Pat. No. 5,122,106 to Atwood et al. discloses yet another stretching apparatus. The apparatus disclosed includes a base structure for supporting an individual in a supine position and a cradle within which a leg is positioned. A stretching load is applied to the leg by arm assemblies of the cradle for stretching the muscles of the lower back and legs.
Although many devices are provided in the art, none seem to be simpler for exercise than putting our bodies through various exercise routines without the need for such devices. With a proper protocol, stretching and simple strengthening exercises would be beneficial for recovery from back pain. The present invention seeks to provide that proper protocol which heretofore has not been provided.